LONDON, April 8, 2026, 14:25 BST
Lloyds Banking Group claims it’s finished what it calls the first experiment of its kind using quantum computing to spot money mules. Teaming up with IBM, the nine-month project embedded a fake suspect in anonymised transaction data—and the bank says the technology flagged it. According to Lloyds, the goal was to build up stronger tools to fight fraud and scams.
The change is significant: fraud is still a persistent drain on UK finance. According to UK Finance, criminals stole £1.17 billion in 2024 across both unauthorised and authorised fraud. Last month, the British government offered quantum technology support valued at up to £2 billion and set a target for large-scale quantum computer deployment by the early 2030s.
Criminals use so-called money mules—or their accounts—to funnel illicit funds under the guise of ordinary transactions. Lloyds tapped IBM’s quantum computer for an experiment, running tests on a 156-qubit machine to sift through a sprawling network of connected payments—layers of complexity that typically stump traditional computers.
Lloyds’ chief operating officer Ron van Kemenade described financial crime as “more complex and more network-driven,” noting that this effort helped translate research into real-world insight. Over the nine-month project, the bank assembled an internal team it calls “Quantum Ambassadors”, who teamed up with both economic-crime experts and IBM personnel. UKTN
Scott Crowder, IBM’s vice president overseeing quantum adoption and business development, called the tie-up a sign that financial firms are now able to “conduct meaningful quantum research”. According to the companies, the project examined if quantum algorithms can detect specific mule activity within a dense transaction graph—a web of connected payments. FinTech Global
Lloyds isn’t the only one pushing into quantum. Back in September, HSBC pointed to a pilot project with IBM that boosted its predictive accuracy in European corporate bond trading by 34%—a notable figure, and one of the few examples where a major bank has flagged a practical quantum use case. Rather than holding out for a quantum leap, lenders are picking off specific commercial problems.
This experiment lines up with Lloyds’ ongoing tech strategy. Back in January, the bank bumped up its 2026 profitability goal and projected over £100 million in extra profit from generative AI that year, as the technology rolls out more widely across its operations.
Still, the fraud project hasn’t moved beyond proof of concept; it’s not running live. TechMarketView described the technology as pre-commercial, raising doubts about its ability to generate practical results within any kind of concrete timeframe.
